Elliott C. Back: <3 Wendy Bug

Yahoo sucks. Banned me. What to do?

Posted in My Blog, Optimization, Search, Yahoo by Elliott Back on May 17th, 2007.

It wasn’t my intention, when I wrote about how Google wouldn’t index one of my sites to make it to the #1 keyword for “Google Sucks” but it happened anyway. That’s a story for another day–right now my gripe is with infamous search engine Yahoo, which doesn’t index any of my sites at all!

Try searching for name, Elliott Back on Yahoo and you get absolutely nothing:

yahoo-results.jpg

I tried adding my feed to Yahoo Site Explorer but it’s been 50 minutes and it hasn’t been indexed yet. I’m going to contact Webmaster Support and see what comes. My suspicion is that this is a side-effect from the rapid adoption by others of WP Autoblog, which links back to me, one of the reasons I stopped distributing it.

Update: I submitted my feed at 05/17/2007 14:18:01 and it was processed on 05/17/2007 14:26:18. Apparently it took a long time to get reported as processed, but the processing itself happened within 10 minutes.

Update 2: Well so far nothing. If any Yahoo people stop by, drop me a note or give me a call and we can get this sorted out.

Update 3: I emailed a friendly Yahoo employee who might be able to help, and also signed up for their paid search inclusion, “search submit basic,” which hopefully can nudge the site back into the index. Although, I don’t feel right paying for being indexed, it feels too black hat.

Update 4: I got the following email back from Yahoo:

Hello,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Search.

It has been determined that your site may not comply with Yahoo!’s Content Quality Guidelines located at: help.yahoo.com/help/us/ysearch/deletions/deletions-05.html

Below are some answers to common questions regarding this issue:

Q: What are some of the common reasons that a site may violate Yahoo!’s Content Policy Guidelines?

A: Yahoo!’s Content Quality Guidelines (link above) outline what we are and are not looking for in pages that we index. Listed below are some of the more common reasons that a site may violate these guidelines:

- Cloaking (showing crawlers deceptive content about a site)
- Massive domain interlinking- Use of affiliate programs without the addition of substantial unique content
- Use of reciprocal link programs (aka “link farms”)
- Hidden text
- Excessive keyword repetition

Q: If my site has a judgment against it, can I use the SiteMatch inclusion program?

A: All pages submitted to SiteMatch are editorially reviewed. If a site has a judgment against it, it is likely to be rejected by the SiteMatch program.

Q: If my site has a judgment against it, can I use the Yahoo! Express directory inclusion program?

A: Yes, the Yahoo! Directory and Yahoo! Search Index are different systems. Inclusion or exclusion from one does not affect the other.

Q: How can I have my site re-reviewed?

A: Please review our content quality guidelines to make sure that your site meets all of them. When you feel the site is ready, please complete the form located at: add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/ysearch/cgi_rereview requesting a re-review of your site. You may wish to include an explanation of unique features on your site, or details of changes to your site’s content that may assist our editors in their evaluation.

Please allow several weeks for the review process, YST indexing, and a complete refresh of the database before checking search.yahoo.com to see if your site is listed in the Yahoo!Search Index. We do not offer specifics detailing how an individual site is not in compliance with our guidelines, but we will review your site individually. You will not be
receiving further notification regarding your request for a second review, and we are not able to offer the option of another review.

Thank you for taking the time to make the Yahoo! Search Index better.
Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Customer Care.

Regards,
Evan

Yahoo! Customer Care
www.yahoo.com/

Uh, this email contains no information that could help me understand why I’m banned from Yahoo, or how to correct that ban. Thanks for the … wasted bits in cyberspace!

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 17th, 2007 at 10:04 am and is tagged with search engine yahoo, rapid adoption, content quality, quality guidelines, autoblog, black hat, google, deletions, site explorer, gripe, suspicion, intention, inclusion, long time, email, yahoo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.

22 Responses to “Yahoo sucks. Banned me. What to do?”

  1. John says:

    yeah i agree indexing by yahoo is no good. great infomation here though.

  2. ;( In Italy only 5-6% users use yahoo! In my site the 99.7% access by google… and in Italy yahoo have more spam in result.. PS: do you know a script for make a site as blogger.com ? best regards!

  3. Steve says:

    On the bright site, you do rank #1 for the term “yahoo site explorer sucks” which I suspect will be a very popular search term. Same thing happened to me and a zillion other legit webmasters.

  4. Randy says:

    better then Yahoo mail!

  5. nondescript says:

    I’ve had a similar experience with Yahoo Answers. I’ve been using Yahoo for over ten years and have been a paying customer, yet they suspend my Yahoo Answers account with no real reason given. Typically, Yahoo Answer accounts are suspended because other users who read the answers don’t like the opinion and “report” the answer. Since I regularly contribute to the Religion and Spirituality section and am an atheist, I get reported frequently. I explained this to Yahoo, who gave me the following form letter response:

    Hello ,

    Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Answers.

    We appreciate your inquiry about your suspension from Yahoo! Answers
    and/or the deactivation of your Yahoo! ID. We reviewed your case, and
    decided that your account is not eligible for reinstatement.

    Once an account is disabled for a violation of the Terms of Service, the
    subscriber to the account will lose the ability to log in and access the
    account and its contents (including email and content stored with any
    other Yahoo! service). The account also will not be reactivated.

    Should you choose to create a new Yahoo! account, we invite you to read
    the Yahoo! Terms of Service and Yahoo! Community Guidelines to help
    ensure your new account is not deactivated.

    Yahoo! Terms of Service:

    http://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/utos-173.html

    Yahoo! Community Guidelines:

    http://answers.yahoo.com/info/community_guidelines.php

    Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Answers.

    Regards,

    Brett

    Yahoo! Customer Care

    For assistance with all Yahoo! services please visit:

    http://help.yahoo.com/

  6. John says:

    I’ve had the exact same thing happen with my Yahoo! Answers account it was suspended for some reason and they won’t tell me why. I’ve emailed them multiple times but get the same copy paste answer.

  7. michael says:

    ylts.t for adut Yahoo. a lot better out there. Yahoo is for kids who need a daddy. Nos nothing good abouahoo is just a bunch of antichristians who love to be the control freaks they are. they have no accountability. So they do what ever they wish to do.Just have nothing to do with them. It is all junk any how. there i

  8. Tammy says:

    Looks like you are back on yahoo. Can you post an update to what you did to get re-included? did you submit for a rereview and if so did you make any changes before doing so? I’m in the same situation as you were. It’s nice to know there is someone who made it back in the results.

  9. Scott Barker says:

    I’ve never cared much for Yahoo. In my opinion, Google is much better!

  10. Rich Holland says:

    I’ve had similar issues with Yahoo answers, after having back surgery I could not work for 1 year, but wanted to keep my mind active. Everyday I would log into yahoo and proceed to the yahoo answers area, then answer as many computer questions as I could. From time to time I would input my web address link to a solution I had written myself, apparently they didn’t like that. I got no warning at all, just an email stating that I had violated their TOS and my account was suspended. While I could care less about yahoo and having an account there, it did strike me as odd that they would frown of people trying to help other people for free. I suppose they could view it as my trying to use their service for advertising but that was not the case. I suspect that Yahoo will be facing some serious changes in the months to come, with the mass exodus of upper level executives leaving the company, time will tell.

  11. Big Wally says:

    Yahoo Answers is a giant headache. The employees pose as ordinary users and bait others into arguments, causing account deletions and users being banned. When you try to voice your complaint on their “forum”, the regular trolls who reside there attack you and eventually you get banned from posting there. Yahoo allows the trolls to roam there and do as they please. As soon as someone has a legitimate complaint, you’re gone. Until Yahoo “cleans up house”, Yahoo Answers is totally worthless.

  12. acer says:

    Yep i agree. I used yahoo answers to promote my site while giving quality answers about something i know a great deal about. I was very helpful and stayed out of baited arguments by other members. Trust me, anyone thinking about using yahoo ansers to bring in people to their site should give it a miss. You may go great for a few weeks to a few months and than bang your gone. Right now im trying to find out if this is going to affect my website and have it removed from yahoo search engine. I wont lie im pretty worried about it. Sure yahoo brings in hardly any search traffic at all but who know maybe the tide will turn and yahoo may rule over google in time, you just dont know. Has anyone had their site taken out of yahoo search engine because they used yahoo ansews as promotion?

    This next line is to help people find this page in the engines as no one really has coined a phrase that will answer these questions.

    will getting banned from yahoo answers get my website removed from yahoo search engine

    Thankyou

  13. Brett says:

    Yea Yahoo does suck. Maybe they should worry more about the quality of service and their search engine vs. trying to ban honest people. I had an account for 13 years and was banned for posting my website and other websites, directing people at Yahoo questions to their answer.

    I guess it's no surprise that their STOCKS ARE DOWN 50%. You suck Yahoo.

  14. [...] Yahoo Sucks… oh yes they do… [...]

  15. p1nk g33k says:

    Don't worry. I can't tell you the last time that I used Yahoo to search for something. I think everyone would agree that Google pretty much won the search engine war.

  16. p1nk g33k says:

    Oh, yeah, Melbourne IT. I had to deal with the rudest lady. I think Melbourne IT is a small little office with one lady in there. I spoke to her each time I called. They charged me $15 or $20 to transfer the domain to another registrar because I, like you, refused to pay their ridiculous renewal fees.

  17. Melissa says:

    i was just banned on yahoo becasue someone came in a chat room and told my that some women was running around with my photo and calling her self me and told yahoo i was her so i changed my profile photo to a cat and to my eyes i was banned couldnt get any of my work papers from my email nothing they sent me a ltter to my old yhaoo account saying if i didnt change my profile i would be banned for life. but how can i change my profile if they dont let me log in or anything its just ****

  18. anon says:

    Go complaint about it on http://www.theybannedme.com

  19. Anyone that restricts freedom of speech is a Yahoo!

    Anyone that restrains trade is a Yahoo!

    Anyone that can not cope with rapid growth is a Yahoo!

    Anyone that is pretentious enough to ask you to “suggest a site” is a Yahoo!

    Anyone that sells or buys over-valued stock (like Yahoo’s) is a Yahoo!

    Anyone that uses Yahoo is a Yahoo!

  20. Toadphillips says:

    Yahoo Sucks bad. If they don’t want people to enjoy themselves on a site why don’t they make a 2nd site that’s not made for 10 year olds.

    Where you can disscus things without a Report Abuse button under your name.

    What does yahoo answers promote? Snitching and being fake so you don’t get in trouble.

    What a ridiculous company. Google should buy them out and shut them down.

  21. ansi says:

    Yahoo not only suck, they are also identity/information thieves and they sell personal information from peoples emails to their 3rd party partners.

  22. jkjkhardcore says:

    Their web search sucks I use google
    their mail SUCKS! 3000 unread messages for someone who barely uses mail of spam and junk filters dont work reporting does not work. it’s worthless.
    their Y!A’s was the only thing I found fun. I answered 1000 questions and then ran into a troll who reported me with his 30 accounts. I tried to talk it out with their crappy customer care but they said your banned anyways! They freaking suspended me for this question:
    Someone asks help with an organic chemistry problem
    Someone answers : Well pitbulls don’t know nothing about that(obvius spam and the guy who was trolling)
    Me: Don’t let pitbull do your homework here are some good books on organic chemistry [LINK] good luck.
    VIolATIoN
    FVCK YAHOO!

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